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description

Object description

image: Three Air Raid wardens sit slumped in their chairs in a brightly lit office with a map on a wall and a telephone on
a desk.

Label

Duncan Oppenheim was a contemporary of Anthony Gross, having attended art classes together at the same public
school. However, there is a marked contrast between their approaches.
Oppenheim’s experience of working as an Air Raid Warden and Post Warden in London throughout the war is evident
in his work. He conveys the tedium of spending long nights within a stark and confined interior. Although he was not
an official war artist, he made a series of paintings about his experiences which he donated to the Imperial War
Museum in 1995.

Over two million American servicemen passed through Britain during the Second World War. In 1944, at the height of activity, up to half a million were based there with the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Their job was to man and maintain the vast fleets of aircraft needed to attack German cities and industry.